Game to film adaptations have generally caused a lot of excitement but fallen flat when they hit the big screen. Video games offer us an in-depth experience to explore a brand new world and interact with these environments as the main character. On the other hand, movies provide a similar experience but don’t allow us to interact with anyone. What happens when you take a video game world that’s adored by many and put it into a feature film. Following the release of Tom Holland as Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted film, we thought we’d take a look at some successful and unsuccessful video games turned movies.
Sonic the Hedgehog
When the first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog hit, fans were not impressed with animation. The internet came together and essentially bullied the executives into bringing a new animator to fix Sonic’s look. Hence, it was more in line with what the video game lovers wanted. Ben Schwartz voices sonic, and the cast is filled with icons like Jim Carrey and James Marsden. Sonic the Hedgehog got a 63% from critics and an average audience score of 93%, so it’s fair to say that this video game turned movie is definitely one of the better ones.
Pokemon Detective Pikachu
We all love the beloved Pokemon video games, the animated series, and the animated movies. We were really excited to see the live-action spin-off as it was an adaptation of the video game released in 2016. Pikachu, voiced by the one and only Ryan Reynolds, is a detective to find out what happened to his missing partner. This feel-good film had some mystery, and it was super funny. Critics score the film a 68% while the audience gave it a mere 79%.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
We’re taking it way back with this 2001 film starring Angelina Jolie. The games are a fan favorite filled with killer female fighter energy, but the movie was simply lackluster. Packed with action but no emotional value or real plotline caused this movie to fall flat. Critics’ consensus was that Angelina was a great choice as Lara but that the film had no real impact on anyone. The 2018 reboot was received much better than the original allowing the franchise to redeem itself a little. The 2018 version left 51% of critics satisfied, and 55% of audience members satisfied. Perhaps they’ll reboot it all over again – after all, the third time’s a charm!
Uncharted
Based on these movies’ success, we figured we think about what we think the success of the new uncharted movie will be. The movie is a prequel highlighting how Nathan Drake meets Sully. The movie’s cast includes Tom Holland as young Nate Drake, Mark Wahlberg as Sully, and Antonia Banderas. According to Holland, the film is going well, and due to this movie being a prequel, there may be something in it for fans of the game and those new to Uncharted’s world. Based on the cast alone and the actors’ quality, most fans hope that we may actually be getting a decent game to film adaptation. Cinemablend highlighted some key things to avoid to ensure this movie is a success. Straying from the source material, having too much fan service, not getting the audience invested in the leads, and focusing too much on the spectacle are some of the main reasons this movie may fail.
We definitely think this movie will be better than the typical game to film adaptations from the past since it highlights the origin story. Are you a fan of the Uncharted games? How do you think the movie will turn out – let us know in the comments!
